According to the records. this was the first time that a Category 5 hurricane went from west to east so late in the hurricane season. Also the barometric pressure has been unusually low in this area for several weeks and continuous to be lower than normal on November 27 with a 1200 AST reading of 29.85 inches. Teachers and students should feel free to make use of the data to make graphs and as part of a study of an abiotic factor.
Below is the data which can be used as part of your lesson plan. I would
suggest that you have the students make a graph from the data and then
have them interpret the graph. Be aware that the times in the tables need to be converted to elapsed time in minutes to make a more accurate graph (to compensate for time measurements not being in the decimal system). I will post the graph from the first school
to send me an accurate and complete line graph of all of the data points
in the table. This should be in the form of a .jpg or .gif file of 300
kilobytes or less. Send an interpretation file with it in the email to
which the file is attached.
BAROMETRIC PRESSURE CHANGES DURING HURRICANE
LENNY ON ST.CROIX
TIME IS AST
BAROMETRIC PRESSURE (BP) IS IN INCHES
DATE IS 11/17/99
LOCATION: ST. JOSEPH HIGH SCHOOL, FREDERIKSTED, VI 00840
17 DEG. 43 MIN. NORTH LATITUDE, 64 DEG. 53 MIN. WEST LONGITUDE
OBSERVER: JAMES A. PETRAIT
TIME BP
TIME BP
TIME BP
TIME BP
0000 29.59
1200 29.32
1530 28.97
1900 29.29
0100 29.56
1230 29.26
1600 28.97
1930 29.32
0400 29.53
1300 29.21
1630 29.06
2000 29.35
0600 29.47
1330 29.12
1700 29.09
2400 29.38
0800 29.50
1400 29.03
1730 29.18
1000 29.47
1430 29.00
1800 29.21
1100 29.41
1500 29.00
1830 29.26
ADDITIONAL REFERENCE POINTS:
ON 11/16/99 AT 1200 THE BP WAS 29.65
ON 11/18/99 AT 0700 THE BP WAS 29.50
ON11/18/99 AT 1900 THE BP WAS 29.62
NORMALLY THE BP STAYS AROUND 30.00
Check out all of the other classroom projects that are listed at the Gateway of THE CYBERUNIVERSE WEBSITES SYSTEM OF JAMES A. PETRAIT. The data for Hurricane Georges is still listed and students may still submit graphs for the barometric data from that event. Then they can compare the graphs for the 2 hurricanes. For other aspects of the hurricane, look in the bookmarks file of the website for the St. Croix Source online newspaper or click on the Weather Underground graphic.
Permission is granted to make multiple copies of this page for
non-profit educational use. Be sure to give the author credit.
©2000, James A. Petrait
jpetrait@earthling.net